tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/oscars-2017-35273/articlesOscars 2017 – The Conversation2017-05-10T01:34:43Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/759722017-05-10T01:34:43Z2017-05-10T01:34:43Z‘Moonlight’ schooled Hollywood on race. Can it take on school discipline, too?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168645/original/file-20170509-11018-3d5132.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">2017's winner for Best Picture casts new light on the issue of school discipline reform.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://moonlight.movie/">A24 Films</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>This year’s Academy Award winner for best picture tackles a difficult topic in the education world today: school discipline. In “<a href="http://moonlight.movie/">Moonlight</a>,” high school boys taunt the main character, Chiron, with homophobic slurs before beating him. The next day, Chiron shatters a chair across the back of the ringleader. Chiron is handcuffed and sent to an alternative school, setting him on the path toward dealing drugs.</p>
<p>While Chiron does become the aggressor, he is ultimately the victim and suffers an utterly cruel punishment for his revenge.</p>
<p>This dichotomy captures the major insight of <a href="https://nyupress.org/books/9781479877027/">my recent research on school discipline</a>: that suspensions and expulsions frequently ignore the causes of student misbehavior.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yVaUq98qWGE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">In a scene from ‘Moonlight,’ Chiron takes revenge after being bullied and beaten.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Why do kids misbehave?</h2>
<p>Normal human development can explain a lot of misbehavior. Younger children, for instance, lack the capacity to always behave; no matter the rules, elementary school students occasionally talk out of turn, push each other and disrupt class. Older students sometimes push boundaries in other, more serious, ways. Making and learning from these mistakes is simply <a href="http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/the_misunderstood_middle_schooler">part of growing up</a>. </p>
<p>Disabilities, academic struggles, poverty, homelessness and family crises can also <a href="https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/teach/problemstudent.html">affect behavior</a>. For students in these situations, misbehavior is often a sign of unmet needs – not a character flaw.</p>
<p>The school environment adds another complicating layer. Educators make choices about how they discipline students, which can influence <a href="http://www.indiana.edu/%7Eatlantic/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Academic-Cost-of-School-Discipline.pdf">classroom culture, student behavior and academic achievement</a>. Research has shown that punitive approaches create environments that actually <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0742-051X(00)00059-7">make misbehavior more likely</a>. As one group of scholars <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02171974">concluded</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“[Students] interested in reducing their chances of being suspended… [would] be better off by transferring to a school with a lower suspension rate rather than by improving their attitudes or reducing their misbehavior.”</p>
</blockquote>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168632/original/file-20170509-11042-15e1r18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168632/original/file-20170509-11042-15e1r18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168632/original/file-20170509-11042-15e1r18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168632/original/file-20170509-11042-15e1r18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168632/original/file-20170509-11042-15e1r18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168632/original/file-20170509-11042-15e1r18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168632/original/file-20170509-11042-15e1r18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168632/original/file-20170509-11042-15e1r18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Student misbehavior and the pushing of boundaries are a natural part of child development.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/students-passing-notes-class-99626366?src=kOYDkr78f7f7Jz1cx3TF8w-1-4">Blend Images / Shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<h2>Understanding Chiron</h2>
<p>“Moonlight” brings all these interconnected factors together to help the audience understand student behavior. Chiron breached an obvious boundary that cannot be condoned. Yet, his punishment seems unjust because the audience sympathizes with his struggle: His mother is a drug addict. He suffers harassment for his sexual identity. His first lover turned against him.</p>
<p>But rather than protect him, the school leaves Chiron to deal with these challenges alone. None of this excuses Chiron’s act, but it likely deflates the audience’s urge to label Chiron as a violent student who deserves expulsion or jail.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168646/original/file-20170509-11015-lr1pxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168646/original/file-20170509-11015-lr1pxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168646/original/file-20170509-11015-lr1pxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168646/original/file-20170509-11015-lr1pxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168646/original/file-20170509-11015-lr1pxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168646/original/file-20170509-11015-lr1pxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168646/original/file-20170509-11015-lr1pxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168646/original/file-20170509-11015-lr1pxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chiron’s misbehavior in the film is portrayed in the context of his difficult life experiences.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://moonlight.movie/">A24 Films</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Current discipline trends</h2>
<p>Public schools suspend or expel <a href="http://ocrdata.ed.gov/Downloads/CRDC-School-Discipline-Snapshot.pdf">three million students</a> a year – often with no attention to context. (Thirty-four to 42 percent of those students are African-American.) The vast majority of suspensions and expulsions are for behavior less serious than Chiron’s. In Connecticut, for instance, only about <a href="http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/lib/sde/pdf/deps/sctg/suspensions_and_expulsions_2015.pdf">10 percent</a> of suspensions and expulsions are for weapons, violence or drug-related behavior. Most are for everyday misbehavior.</p>
<p>Like Chiron, the data also show that a single suspension increases the chances of a <a href="http://b.3cdn.net/advancement/d05cb2181a4545db07_r2im6caqe.pdf">cascade effect</a>: subsequent suspension and expulsion, academic failure, dropping out and incarceration. With so much at stake, I believe schools owe students a far more thoughtful discipline system.</p>
<p>When school discipline responds to students’ needs, it produces <a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=2756497">better behavior and academic achievement</a> for all students – not just struggling students. Schools with <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/289687063_The_Punishment_Gap_School_Suspension_and_Racial_Disparities_in_Achievement">the highest achievement</a> are those that deal with misbehavior through means other than just <a href="http://www.indiana.edu/%7Eatlantic/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Academic-Cost-of-School-Discipline.pdf">suspension, expulsion and law enforcement</a>.</p>
<p>These successful schools offer counseling, academic services and <a href="https://www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/resources/projects/center-for-civil-rights-remedies/school-to-prison-folder/federal-reports/are-we-closing-the-school-discipline-gap/AreWeClosingTheSchoolDisciplineGap_FINAL221.pdf">other programs</a> to help students work through their problems and to reinforce good behavior. When misbehavior inevitably occurs, it becomes a learning opportunity for students and teachers.</p>
<p>This kind of approach, like “Moonlight,” humanizes student behavior.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/75972/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Derek W. Black does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In the Oscar-winning film ‘Moonlight,’ as well as schools across the US, student misbehavior is being cast in a new light. How can school discipline address the root of the problem and save our kids?Derek W. Black, Professor of Law, University of South CarolinaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/740472017-03-17T00:43:10Z2017-03-17T00:43:10ZStop obsessing over talent—everyone can sing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161816/original/image-20170321-5405-9ebxss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=274%2C110%2C1243%2C821&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Butner Elementary School students sing patriotic music on Fort Bragg, North Carolina. April 2, 2009.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/6dNvVf">Jessica M. Kuhn / U.S. Army</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A Hungarian film titled “<a href="http://www.singshortfilm.com/">Sing</a>” won the 2017 Oscar for best short film. “Sing” tells the story of young Zsófi, who joins a renowned children’s choir at her elementary school where “everyone is welcome.” </p>
<p>Soon after joining, Zsófi is told by her teacher Erika not to sing, but only mouth the words. On the face of it, she accepts her teacher’s request stoically. But later in the movie, her anguish and pain become obvious, when she reluctantly tells her best friend what happened.</p>
<p>The movie goes on to reveal that Zsófi isn’t the only choir member who has been given these hurtful instructions. The choir teacher’s defense is, “If everybody sings we can’t be the best.”</p>
<p>I have been a professor of music education for the past 28 years, and I wish I could say that the story of a music teacher asking a student not to sing is unusual. Unfortunately, I have heard the story many times.</p>
<p>In fact, research shows that many adults who think of themselves as “unmusical” were <a href="http://education.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/1105940/whidden-paper.pdf">told as children</a> that they couldn’t or shouldn’t sing by teachers and family members. </p>
<h2>All children are musical</h2>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161179/original/image-20170316-10892-13tcivq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161179/original/image-20170316-10892-13tcivq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161179/original/image-20170316-10892-13tcivq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=865&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161179/original/image-20170316-10892-13tcivq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=865&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161179/original/image-20170316-10892-13tcivq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=865&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161179/original/image-20170316-10892-13tcivq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1087&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161179/original/image-20170316-10892-13tcivq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1087&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161179/original/image-20170316-10892-13tcivq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1087&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The 2017 Oscar-winning short film ‘Sing’ explores the experience of a child who is told not to sing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://londonflairpr.com/press-kits/sing/poster-sing">Meteor Films</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>Children are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ml/gcu057">natural musicians</a>, as they readily sing, dance and play music from the time they are infants. People ask me all the time how they can tell if their child has musical talent. I assure them that their child – indeed every child – has musical ability that can be developed into a satisfying and lifelong relationship with music. </p>
<p>However, as they get older, some children begin to get messages from peers, family members, the media and (unfortunately) music teachers that they may not be very musical – that they don’t have “talent.”</p>
<h2>The ‘talent’ mindset</h2>
<p>Shows like <a href="http://www.americanidol.com">“American Idol”</a> have promoted the notion that singing is a rare ability reserved for the talented few, and that those without such talent entertain us only by being <a href="http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6842993/worst-american-idol-auditions-ever">ridiculed and weeded out</a>. </p>
<p>This “talent mindset” of music runs counter to what psychologist <a href="https://psychology.stanford.edu/cdweck">Carol Dweck</a> calls the <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve">“growth mindset”</a> that is considered critical for learning: Students who view their success as a result of hard work will persevere through challenges, while students who believe their success lies with some innate ability – like “talent” – are more likely to give up. </p>
<p>My own <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0022429416680096">research</a> found that if children have a negative view of themselves as singers, they are much less likely to participate in music of any kind. </p>
<p>These self-perceptions of a lack of musical talent can then become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Research shows that adults who dropped out of music as children may lose their singing skills through <a href="https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2015.32.3.293">lack of use and opportunity</a>.</p>
<p>Kids who love music but do not think of themselves as musical could miss out on many of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/all-together-now-three-evolutionary-perks-of-singing-35367">social and cognitive benefits</a> of music participation, on the experience of <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2015.10.002">feeling connected to others through song</a>. These benefits have nothing to do with talent.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161182/original/image-20170316-10925-6vhv6v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161182/original/image-20170316-10925-6vhv6v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161182/original/image-20170316-10925-6vhv6v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161182/original/image-20170316-10925-6vhv6v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161182/original/image-20170316-10925-6vhv6v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161182/original/image-20170316-10925-6vhv6v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161182/original/image-20170316-10925-6vhv6v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161182/original/image-20170316-10925-6vhv6v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The 2016 ‘American Idol’ finalists, La'Porsha Renae and Trent Harmon (winner).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://americanidol.tumblr.com/image/146211333055">Fox</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<h2>Get children singing</h2>
<p>How can we send children the message that singing is for everyone? I argue that change could begin both at home and at school. </p>
<p>For example, if you are a parent, you could sing the music you loved growing up and not worry about how good you sound. Having an adult in the home committed to music and singing without shame may be <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022429416680096">the most powerful influence on a child</a>. You could sing with your kids from the time they are little, sing with the radio, sing in the car or sing at the dinner table.</p>
<p>As for my fellow music teachers, I ask that you encourage all of the children in your classrooms, schools and communities to sing whenever and wherever they get a chance. The sad truth is, when we, the musical experts, discourage a child from singing, it can deliver a <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14613800601127494">fatal blow</a> to the child’s musical self-image. </p>
<p>Music teachers need to teach in a climate of collaboration and participation where all voices are heard and valued – not one of audition and competition where only the best can sing.</p>
<p>The movie “Sing” is actually titled “Mindenki” in Hungarian, which means “Everybody.” That’s the uplifting message that Zsófi and her choir mates teach Miss Erika in the end. Singing is not reserved for the few: Either everybody sings or nobody should.</p>
<p><em>This article was updated with a different photo on March 21, 2017.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74047/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steven M. Demorest does research in singing development across the lifespan. He has received funding for his research from the University of Washington, Northwestern University, The National Association for Music Education (NAfME) and Advancing Interdisciplinary Research in Singing (AIRS). </span></em></p>Children with difficulty singing can be labelled as ‘nonmusical’ by parents, teachers and pop culture. This toxic idea of ‘talent’ can deprive people of music’s benefits for the rest of their lives.Steven M. Demorest, Professor of Music Education, Northwestern UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/732022017-02-28T01:03:54Z2017-02-28T01:03:54ZThe Oscars celebrated the humble, while avoiding the overtly political<p>The Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s radio anchor Mark Colvin once opened a news report on the Oscars ceremony with a prescient segue: “Meanwhile, over in La La Land, the annual integrity awards are underway.” He could have had no inkling of the drama that would surround a film called La La Land this year.</p>
<p>Some rumblings in the days leading up to this year’s ceremony suggested the speeches would be more politically partisan than we have seen before. There was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/feb/24/hollywood-oscars-2017-politics-donald-trump">public speculation</a> that several likely winners were ginned up to dump on US president Donald Trump.</p>
<p>Some Trump supporters were <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/oscars-2017-donald-trump-supporters-boycott-liberal-hollywood-a7600091.html">organising to avoid the ceremony</a> in a preemptive strike against the anticipated outrage. That anticipation was <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/movies/ct-oscars-2017-politics-20170226-column.html">an exaggeration</a>, as it transpired.</p>
<p>Time has published <a href="http://time.com/4680665/oscars-2017-political-moments/">a comprehensive list</a> of the politically pointed moments at this year’s ceremony, which reveals they were not too many or too pointed by <a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/02/26/when-oscars-speeches-get-political-the-best-worst-and-most-annoying-in-academy-award-history/">historical standards</a>. </p>
<p>This year was tame compared to Marlon Brando’s 1973 acceptance (delivered by Sacheen Littlefeather, president of the National Native American Affirmative Image Committee), or to Vanessa Redgrave’s booed-and-applauded calumny against “Zionist hoodlums” in 1978, or to Dustin Hoffman’s impassioned tirade for Hollywood’s precariat workforce in 1980 (academics especially take note!), or to Michael Moore’s attack on the “fictitious president” George W Bush in 2003. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Marlon Brando’s win for The Godfather in 1973.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One suspects word had gone out that speakers would be playing to Trump’s strategic advantage by mouthing off against him instead of celebrating their own industry.</p>
<p>Clearly the most strident intervention this year was <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2017/02/26/oscars-mexican-actor-gael-garcia-bernal-rips-trumps-border-wall/">Gael Garcia Bernal’s denunciation</a> of Trump’s proposed border wall with Mexico: “As a Mexican, as a Latin-American, as a migrant worker, as a human being, I am against any form of wall.”</p>
<p>At least as memorable was <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2017/02/27/watch_barry_jenkins_and_tarrell_alvin_mccraney_s_oscars_screenplay_speech.html">the speech Barry Jenkins gave</a> alongside Tarell Alvin McCraney to accept the award for Moonlight as Best Adapted Screenplay. Like their colleague Mahershala Ali, who accepted the award for Best Supporting Actor, both spoke for a political value of diversity and equality. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lHlzjJArZ9o?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Barry Jenkin and Tarell Alvin McCraney win Best Adapted Screenplay.</span></figcaption>
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<p>This is an agenda spearheaded by the American Civil Liberties Union in recent weeks. Jenkins’ pro-ACLU message was remarkably congruent with what is so remarkable about his success. The awarding of Moonlight is really quite a significant moment for the Oscars - the first overtly queer film to win through, and following after the #Oscarssowhite critique of the 2016 awards. </p>
<p>There were plenty of smaller jibes. Host Jimmy Kimmel sarcastically thanked Trump in his opening remarks; later he joked about newsworthy events in Sweden. A number of speakers, including several winners, joined Kimmel in singing from Hollywood’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/16/movies/oscar-ballot-is-all-white-for-another-year.html">conspicuously recent cultural diversity</a> songsheet. The producers of La La Land were speculating enthusiastically about the duty of dreamy people to live creative lives as an antidote to repression just before <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/jaimieetkin/this-la-la-land-producer-knew-they-lost-before-he-made-his?utm_term=.wnQmVJn08L#.tqN4vl8YEA">calamity struck</a>…</p>
<p>After the Best Picture award was given to the wrong winners by Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, the La La Land producers directed the award towards Moonlight, the rightful winner. A generously inclined viewer might feel it was all very graciously handled, under what must have been excruciating circumstances.</p>
<p>And then the producers of Moonlight stepped in, also gracious through their bemusement and disbelief at what had just happened. Adele Romanski, Dede Gardner, and Jeremy Kleiner were <a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-awards-oscars-idUKKBN1650GG">clearly</a> struggling to take it all in.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, seeing Beatty so humiliated (and so contrite about it) brings some kind of ironic closure on an abrasive character judgement that Carly Simon made about him and others 45 years ago: <a href="http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6769186/carly-simon-youre-so-vain-warren-beatty">“You’re so vain (I’ll bet you think this song is about you).”</a></p>
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<p>A stumble leads to humble, as the <a href="https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Proverbs-16-18/">Book of Proverbs</a> notes. Beatty’s embarrassment could be taken to remind that there was a very strong undercurrent of humility on display this year. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLIc6JGA_Po">Emma Stone</a> and Casey Affleck were exemplary champions of this new attitude in their acceptance speeches for best actress and actor.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCRDoGX5kZs">Affleck’s speech</a> was a bit embarrassing, by other standards. For a professional actor at the height of his career, it was confronting to meet a performance so emotionally underwhelming, so lacking in charisma. </p>
<p>Stone was not so tongue-tied, but here, too, we saw no showstopper. Jenkins had already offered that, and nobody was keen to steal his glory. </p>
<p>More than any ceremony in memory, winners were deferring to all the fellow-nominees they had beaten for their awards, talking up their pride “to stand in the company” of “these great artists” who have served “as role models and examples from an early age.” It is not a particularly new way for actors and other entertainers to talk about their community of practice, but it has not had such a strong showing in any Oscars ceremony before now.</p>
<p>And so we can see the new style of self-effacing victors as the real winner of this year’s Oscars. If it repeats next year and beyond, we may well look back on 2017 as marking a sea-change in celebrity culture.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73202/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Clark is a member of the National Tertiary Education Union. </span></em></p>Expectations were high for a politically-charged awards ceremony. But Oscars 2017 was tame compared to the past.Tom Clark, Associate Professor, College of Arts, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/736962017-02-27T12:06:52Z2017-02-27T12:06:52ZOscars Best Picture blunder drowned out an overwhelmingly political ceremony – how apt<p>This was supposed to be <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/2017-political-year-academy-awards/story?id=45683126">the most political Academy Awards</a> in history. One man was expected to overshadow the ceremony: and not the gold one that stands 8½ inches tall. </p>
<p>If one thing was certain, it was that US President Donald Trump by no means felt it beneath him to wade into Hollywood politics. Trump had already engaged in a <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/donald-trump-meryl-streep-golden-globes-2017-a7516746.html">social media spat</a> with 20-time Oscar nominee Meryl Steep, whom he deemed “over-rated” after she denounced his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX9reO3QnUA">mocking of a disabled reporter</a> at a campaign rally in her Golden Globes <a href="https://theconversation.com/many-disabled-people-arent-happy-with-meryl-streeps-anti-trump-speech-71295">acceptance speech</a> in January. </p>
<p>And President Trump’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/trump-travel-ban-35583">executive order</a> banning travel into the United States for citizens from seven countries had also affected the ceremony as it applied to some of the nominees. Khaled Khateeb, cinematographer of Best Documentary (Short Subject) winner, The White Helmets, <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/white-helmets-cinematographer-blocked-from-us-for-oscars-w468908">was blocked from entering the United States</a>. And Asghar Farhadi, the Iranian director of Best Foreign Language winner The Salesman, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-iranian-filmmakers-like-asghar-farhadi-defy-the-censors-72263">boycotted the ceremony</a>. </p>
<p>Only 72 hours before the show began, the six directors nominated in the Best Foreign Language Film category released a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/feb/25/foreign-language-oscar-nominees-decry-climate-of-fanaticism-in-us">joint statement</a> about the “climate of fanaticism and nationalism” engulfing the contemporary world.</p>
<p>This tone continued into the ceremony itself. Various comments about “immigrants”, “politically charged times”, “walls that want to separate us” and that tolerance is “more powerful than fear of the other” all featured in the four-plus hour ceremony, not to mention host Jimmy Kimmell’s various jabs at Trump, including tweeting him during the telecast.</p>
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<p>The individuals who did not pepper their speeches with calls for love and acceptance became more notable than those who did. First winner of the night, Mahershala Ali, who delivered a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cxbzxs2hMbY">stirring speech</a> at the Screen Actors Guild awards last month about acceptance, didn’t replicate this for the Oscars; nor did Casey Affleck say anything remotely political (this may have been due to recent controversy surrounding him and <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/11/22/casey-affleck-s-dark-secret-the-disturbing-allegations-against-the-oscar-hopeful.html">sexual harassment allegations</a>). But from animators to make-up and hair stylists, everyone else added their personal voice to the crowd cheering for inclusivity and tolerance. </p>
<p>But, then, Warren Beatty was given the wrong envelope (the envelope for Best Actress, won by Emma Stone from La La Land earlier in the evening), looked a bit confused, and handed it to co-presenter Faye Dunaway, who announced that La La Land won Best Picture. Cue the la la music, hugs, cheers, and the entire La La Land team up on the stage. But then, after a few minutes of speeches, it was stated on-stage that Moonlight had actually won. To clear up any doubt, the correct envelope and card was displayed for a crucial close-up.</p>
<h2>La La Moonlight</h2>
<p>There have been Best Picture surprise winners in the past (this was especially the case in 1998 when Shakespeare in Love triumphed over Saving Private Ryan). But never has there been a gaff as momentous as presenting the wrong people with an Oscar. There has been a persistent rumour that Marissa Tomei, Supporting Actress winner in 1993 for My Cousin Vinny, was incorrectly given the award by Jack Palance. But this was denied by the Academy, and if a mistake had been made, a representative from PwC, who count the votes, would have stepped on stage and cleared up the confusion, <a href="http://ew.com/article/2002/03/06/what-if-marisa-tomei-wins/">as we found out on Sunday night</a>.</p>
<p>The slip up was particularly apt considering the two films. Expected Best Picture winner, La La Land, has become a lightning rod for debates about its merit in these politically charged times. Some defend the musical love story as a <a href="https://theconversation.com/welcome-back-to-la-la-land-musicals-nostalgia-and-escaping-reality-71368">welcome return</a> to old-fashioned musical nostalgia, an invocation simply <a href="https://theconversation.com/welcome-back-to-la-la-land-musicals-nostalgia-and-escaping-reality-71368">to feel</a>, while others thought the film indicative of the posturing and posing, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/mediocre-musical-la-la-land-deserves-to-win-at-the-oscars-its-a-story-for-our-uninspiring-age-71894">fakery of the age</a>.</p>
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<p>Moonlight was the opposition to La La Land: complex, arty, diverse. While it may not be unique for an American film to explore the life of a African-American boy in a poverty stricken environment, it is unusual to produce a film that presents an African-American gay male, focusing on his <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/feb/20/why-moonlight-should-win-the-best-picture-oscar">vulnerable masculinity</a>. La La Land suffered under the weight of the inevitable backlash against frontrunners and crowd-pleasing films. </p>
<p>Both films, I would argue, were worthy Best Picture winners. Both took risks. It should not be overlooked that La La Land’s budget was US$30m dollars, <a href="http://flavorwire.com/492985/how-the-death-of-mid-budget-cinema-left-a-generation-of-iconic-filmmakers-mia">considered a small to medium budget</a> in Hollywood. And although the death of the musical has been overstated for decades, films that evoke classical musicals like Singin’ in the Rain or European pastiche musicals like The Umbrellas of Cherbourg are not generally produced in Hollywood. </p>
<p>But Moonlight has been, so far, immune to criticism and is groundbreaking as the first queer film to win Best Picture – and at a snip (various figures have been quoted, from <a href="http://www.indiewire.com/2017/02/moonlight-oscar-nominations-indie-film-best-picture-1201779770/">US$1.6m</a> to <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38342818">US$5m</a>). A truly political victory.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/158532/original/image-20170227-26298-12bs4fq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/158532/original/image-20170227-26298-12bs4fq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/158532/original/image-20170227-26298-12bs4fq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/158532/original/image-20170227-26298-12bs4fq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/158532/original/image-20170227-26298-12bs4fq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/158532/original/image-20170227-26298-12bs4fq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/158532/original/image-20170227-26298-12bs4fq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Moonlight.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Altitude Films</span></span>
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<h2>A ceremony for our times</h2>
<p>Despite this, the overwhelming politicism of this year’s awards were drowned out by the slip up.</p>
<p>The annual Hollywood event has not been immune to <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/2017-political-year-academy-awards/story?id=45683126">political sentiments or speeches</a> in the past. Most point to Marlon Brando’s 1973 <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/marlon-brando-rejected-godfather-oscar-2017-2?r=US&IR=T">refusal</a> to accept his Academy Award – sending actress and president of the National Native American Affirmative Image Committee, Sacheen Littlefeather, in his place to discuss the plight of Native Americans – as the point when the Oscars and politics really came together. </p>
<p>But since then, each political speech has generally been met with widespread criticism, eliciting comments about the inappropriateness of Hollywood elites remarking on political contexts that rarely impact their own lives. The glittering fantasy of the ceremony certainly appears at odds with the socio-political reality of countless viewers. </p>
<p>This year, something seemed to have shifted. Politics was no longer an aside at the end of a self-congratulatory speech, or deemed difficult to swallow given the privileged audience in the Dolby Theatre (although it did feel slightly patronising when Kimmell paraded in “real people” from a Hollywood bus tour and had them, awkwardly, interact with the celebrities in attendence). This year, politics suffused the lead up to the awards, and the ceremony itself. So it is somehow appropriately ironic, given the political climate, that this has been overtaken by a blunder from an accounting firm. </p>
<p>This year’s Oscars provided audiences with both glitz and glamour, and sombre reality, just like the two films that were announced as Best Picture winners. These two films accurately reflect the paradoxes our times.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73696/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julie Lobalzo Wright does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The overwhelming politicism of this year’s awards have been overtaken by the Best Picture slip up.Julie Lobalzo Wright, Teaching Fellow in Film Studies, University of WarwickLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/732122017-02-24T07:40:22Z2017-02-24T07:40:22ZForget La La Land – best foreign language Oscar nominees show the true diversity of cinema<p>A marriage on the rocks in Iran, a prankster German father and a grumpy old Swede. Landmines in Denmark and a love story in Vanuatu. These stories are all vying for the same prize: that of <a href="http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2017">Best Foreign Language Film</a> at the 89th Academy Awards. </p>
<p>Maren Ade’s tragi-comedy Toni Erdmann is <a href="http://www.oddschecker.com/awards/oscars/best-foreign-language-film">favourite</a> to take home the Oscar on February 26, but the whole field demonstrates the diversity of cinema outside the Hollywood bubble.</p>
<p>To explain what’s on offer in 2017, The Conversation asked scholars from around the world to write about why these films matter, both at home and on cinema’s biggest stage.</p>
<h2>The Salesman: Iran</h2>
<p>Asghar Farhadi will represent Iranian cinema at the Oscars again, with his 2015 picture, <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/01/30/the-salesman-and-split">The Salesman</a>. The film is an exposé of a subtle cultural issue in Iran: how to perceive violence and react to an act of abuse in a family relationship, particularly in a male-dominated society.</p>
<p>The story deals with a young artist couple, Rana and ’Emad (played by Taraneh Alidousti and Shahab Hosseini), who are putting on a production of Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman. Their own conjugal life is shaken when Rana is attacked by a stranger in her home. Farhadi uses this scenario to raise the question of how we behave in moments of crisis. </p>
<p>Farhadi tackles this contentious cultural issue in a society of traditional values, where women’s “honour” is defined by their sexuality and men’s is defined by the control they exert over that sexuality. The audience observes ’Emad’s inner struggle with doubt, resentment and self-control in order to reconcile cultural norms of revenge and forgiveness. Rana’s defenceless conduct evokes an image of a passive victim avoiding conflicts out of terror.</p>
<p>The narrative is full of suspense and anxiety, as we have seen in Farhadi’s previous films <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/mar/27/the-past-review-peter-bradshaw-asghar-farhadi">The Past</a> (2013), <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/01/09/tehran-tales">A Separation</a> (2011) and <a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-about-elly-review-20150508-column.html">About Elly</a> (2009). Along with his realistic narrative style, Farhadi reveals his remarkable expertise in documenting the rise of confrontation and conflict, leading his characters to make fundamental decisions about their lives. </p>
<p>After The Saleman’s <a href="http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/actualites/articles/asghar-farhadi-award-for-best-screenplay-forushande-the-salesman">success at the Cannes Film Festival</a>, where it won two awards for best film script and best male actor, the cast is looking forward to the results of the Oscars. As an act of protest against US President Donald Trump’s proposed travel ban, Farhadi and his cast have announced that they <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/29/movies/trump-immigration-oscars-iranian-director-asghar-farhadi.html">won’t be present on the red carpet</a> this year. </p>
<h2>A Man Called Ove: Sweden</h2>
<p>Ove lives alone, very alone, in a semi-detached home in a small-scale Swedish suburb. “Misery hates company”, the US tagline says, and the only company Ove longs for is that of his wife who has died. When the film begins, he is about to commit suicide, hoping to join her in heaven. </p>
<p>Such a beginning may sound particularly Swedish, well in line with an Ingmar Bergman film or a <a href="http://www.citiesonstage.eu/en/lars-noren/lars-nor%C3%A9n">Lars Norén</a> play. But Man Called Ove is different. You don’t attract the <a href="http://www.indiewire.com/2016/12/a-man-called-ove-best-foreign-language-oscar-contender-box-office-1201761789/">largest audience to a Swedish film</a> in years if you don’t offer a somewhat more comforting vision of life.</p>
<p>Ove’s unfolding story, told in an emotional and warmly comic way, values the breaking down of barriers; barriers between individuals such as those between the grumpy old Ove himself and his more normal neighbours, but also barriers of class, ethnicity, fear and prejudices, hindering people from joining a supportive community.</p>
<p>One such modern barrier is that Bahar Pars, the film’s Swedish Iranian-born lead actress, could have been <a href="http://deadline.com/2017/02/bahar-pars-oscars-iran-trump-ban-man-called-ove-1201899503/">kept away from the Oscar award ceremony</a> amid the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/29/oscars-organiser-says-us-ban-on-iranian-nominee-extremely-troubling">uncertainty</a> over US President Donald Trump’s travel ban.</p>
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<p>The film, and the internationally <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/29/books/a-man-called-ove-fredrik-backman-sweden-success.html">bestselling novel by Fredrik Backman</a> it is based on, combine the contemporary story of overcoming loneliness with a series of progressive flashbacks to events in both Ove’s life and Swedish history. The film uses Ove’s life to trace the development of a successful Swedish welfare state. Viewers are invited to enjoy both nostalgia for the past and fantasies about how contemporary lives could be, once again, filled by meaningful relationships.</p>
<p>Made by experienced comedy director Hannes Holm, the film benefits from the match between Rolf Lassgård as Ove, and Bahar Pars as Parvane – Ove’s new neigbour, who disrupts both his life and his plans to commit suicide. Their acting – his stubborn reclusiveness and her energetic go-ahead spirit – carries the life-affirming transformation of a man called Ove. Misery needn’t hate company.</p>
<h2>Tanna: Australia/Vanuatu</h2>
<p>Lush tropical scenery of evergreen flora surrounded by turquoise-blue coral gardens. Smiling, healthy and athletic people consuming real food and living in perfect harmony with their natural environment. No cars, no telephone nor internet, no air conditioning, no tourists.</p>
<p>This is the scene set by Australian filmmakers Martin Butler and Bentley Dean for their exotic romance movie, Tanna, which takes place on the island of the same name. Tanna may look like paradise but the film’s protagonists deal with a serious problem: true love and one of its most fatal consequences, to die of a broken heart. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100682/original/image-20151104-25358-1afyk7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100682/original/image-20151104-25358-1afyk7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100682/original/image-20151104-25358-1afyk7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100682/original/image-20151104-25358-1afyk7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100682/original/image-20151104-25358-1afyk7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100682/original/image-20151104-25358-1afyk7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100682/original/image-20151104-25358-1afyk7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Love in paradise.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Contact Films</span></span>
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<p>Having done anthropological fieldwork on Tanna over a period of 25 years, I have been invited to attend public screenings of the film, in order to contextualise the life of the actors who appear in it. </p>
<p>In discussions with audiences, my comments about real-life Tanna always provoked the same refrain: “the dream has been shattered”. The fact is that the tribal groups featured in the movie have been among the most filmed and also the <a href="http://xdaysiny.com/volcano-hunting-tribal-living-tanna-island/">most visited</a> by tourists. </p>
<p>Like other Tannese people they have mobile phones, drive cars, watch movies and football games, eat rice and instant noodles. Those who migrate to the capital of Vanuatu, Port-Vila, often live in slums and work as security guards. </p>
<p>However, when they live on their home island, they still maintain relative autonomy. There, money is not yet the most important good, so people are glad participate in the shooting of a movie. That’s why the end result is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/16/movies/tanna-review.html">pretty good</a>.</p>
<p>This story, set in a remote corner of the world, has become a world success. Sadly, since the movie was shot, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-13/cyclone-pam-vanuatu-one-year-on/7242620">Cyclone Pam</a> has very severely damaged the island. </p>
<p>After the disaster, there are no more leaves on trees and of course no more fruit, no more food, no more traditional houses, and perhaps no more smiling people ready to participate in a cinematic adventure about tropical paradise.</p>
<h2>Toni Erdmann: Germany</h2>
<p>German comedy Toni Erdmann tells the story of a father-daughter relationship. Ines (Sandra Hüller) works as an executive consultant and is driven by the demands of the consultancy business; she is a very serious person. </p>
<p>Her father Winfried (Peter Simonischek), is a retired music teacher who always tries to be funny. He creates an outrageous alter ego, Toni Erdmann, and follows his daughter in character to confront her with the absurdity of her professional life. </p>
<p>When he arrives at Bucharest, where Ines works, he brings her into one absurd situation after another. At a private reception, he introduces himself as the German ambassador in Romania and Ines as his secretary Miss Schnuck. In an amazing scene, he starts to play the piano and introduces his daughter as Whitney Schnuck, performing the song <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/album/whitney-houston-greatest-love-of-all-mw0002370097/credits">Greatest Love of All</a> by Whitney Houston. </p>
<p>Another scene captures Ines’s birthday brunch, which was also supposed to be a team-building exercise for her and her colleagues. As she is facing some problems with her dress, she finally cracks and <a href="http://www.vulture.com/2016/12/toni-erdmann-nude-scene.html">decides to stay naked</a>. She tells her colleagues that this is a ritual they have to follow. Some furiously leave her flat, others show their irritation but do get naked. Finally, her father shows up in a traditional Bulgarian animal costume. When he leaves her flat she runs after him, and finally hugs her father, respecting him as he is.</p>
<p>Toni Erdmann is Maren Ade’s third feature film as director. She has also worked as producer for several German films. Her latest work is an excellent staged dramedy, which is able to show the occasional absurdity of formal situations and self-imposed obsessions, whether they are professional or private. </p>
<p>The film gained <a href="http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/actualites/videos/toni-erdmann-by-maren-ade">international success starting at the Cannes Film Festival</a>, where it was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/23/movies/the-director-of-toni-erdmann-savors-her-moment-at-cannes.html">acclaimed</a> by audiences and critics alike. Such has been the film’s success that Paramount Pictures has announced an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/feb/07/jack-nicholson-toni-erdmann-remake">American remake</a> starring Jack Nicholson and Kristen Wiig in the leading roles.</p>
<p>In the same way Toni Erdmann shows her daughter not to take everything so seriously, the audience of this remarkable film can learn that life can be much easier with humour and a sense of absurdity.</p>
<h2>Land of Mine: Denmark</h2>
<p>Danish film Land of Mine takes place just after the second world war on the Western coast of Denmark, where 2,000 young German prisoners of war are commanded to remove land mines from the coast by Danish and English allied authorities. During the process, almost half of the war captives are injured or die. </p>
<p>The story focuses on Danish sergeant Carl Leopold Rasmussen who has the command of a small German division of predominantly youngsters. He battles with pent-up anger towards the German occupational forces; the mining clearance is his chance to give vent to his bottled-up frustrations. However, the experience develops his hatred into an opportunity to forgive. </p>
<p>The film opens up a shady chapter in Danish history, with reference to actions that may have been in breach of international conventions of war. The film was very <a href="https://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/kultur/under-sandet-er-en-staerk-film-der-burde-blive-oscar-kandidat">well received</a> by the Danish press, but Danish historians were <a href="https://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/danmark/eksperter-film-og-tv-forplumrer-historieformidlingen">hesitant</a> about the historical accuracy of the narrative. In a critical sense, Land of Mine not only narrates the historical past, it may also present a mirror reflecting disconcerting contemporary Danish foreign policy, such as its <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Denmark-in-the-Middle-East-453552">involvement in wars in the Middle East</a>.</p>
<p>Martin Zandvliet, a Danish director with a rapidly rising profile, wrote and directed Land of Mine. He successfully stages the immense west coast drama as a condensed chamber play during which we gradually entrench ourselves in Carl’s emotional journey, and the German youngsters’ dread of death. Two fairly new Danish actors, Roland Møller and Mikkel Boe Følsgaard, shine along with a number of highly talented upcoming German actors. </p>
<p>Land of Mine undoubtedly represents the rise of new Danish talent in film production, and indicates that a new generation of filmmakers is impatiently waiting in the wings.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73212/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The best of global cinema from Germany to Iran and Vanuatu.Pegah Shahbaz, Postdoctoral research associate, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris 3 Anders Marklund, Senior Lecturer, Film Studies, Lund UniversityKim Toft Hansen, Associate professor of Scandinavian film and television, Aalborg UniversityLothar Mikos, Professor of Television Studies, Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad WolfMarc Tabani, Senior Research Fellow, Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/722632017-02-24T02:06:46Z2017-02-24T02:06:46ZHow Iranian filmmakers like Asghar Farhadi defy the censors<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/20/insider/political-drama-at-this-years-oscars-yes-very-likely.html?_r=0">Politics loom</a> over this year’s Oscars, with many bracing for what the winners will – or won’t – say when they ascend the stage before millions of television viewers on Feb. 26. </p>
<p>One nominee, however, has already made a statement.</p>
<p>Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi’s “The Salesman” is one of five films nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. But last month, after President Trump issued an executive order temporarily banning immigrants from seven Muslim majority countries – Iran included – Farhadi decided to boycott the annual awards ceremony. </p>
<p>“To humiliate one nation with the pretext of guarding the security of another is not a new phenomenon in history and has always laid the groundwork for the creation of future divide and enmity,” he <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/29/movies/trump-immigration-oscars-iranian-director-asghar-farhadi.html?_r=0">wrote</a>. “I hereby express my condemnation of the unjust conditions forced upon some of my compatriots and the citizens of the other six countries trying to legally enter the United States of America and hope that the current situation will not give rise to further divide between nations.”</p>
<p>Given the attention Farhadi has received for his act of protest, it’s worth looking at how Iranian film has evolved under a regime that seeks to quell criticism – and how filmmakers like him navigate these restrictions to produce powerful, politically potent art.</p>
<h2>A bipolar movie culture</h2>
<p>Before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, an independent film sector existed alongside government-financed film production. Revolutionaries, however, <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Iranian_Cinema_in_a_Global_Context.html?id=5T-DBAAAQBAJ">viewed the film industry as a symbol of cultural corruption</a>, and during the revolution set fire to hundreds of movie theaters.</p>
<p>Beginning in 1982, Iranian cinema began to regroup. The government wanted to construct a national film culture that would express the ethics of Islam and the unique history of the Iranian state. But this goal often clashed with filmmakers who had strong ties to Iran’s literary culture and wanted to be able to portray modern Iran in critical terms. As a result, Iran’s movie culture is bipolar, with apolitical, domestic melodramas outnumbering art films that critique everyday life. </p>
<p>Today, Iranian cinema reveals some of the contradictions of life under a theocracy. Yes, filmmakers <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Iranian_Cinema_in_a_Global_Context.html?id=5T-DBAAAQBAJ">must adhere to strict guidelines</a>: The Ministry of Culture forbids unflattering portrayals of Islam, women, the nation and its history. <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Iranian_Cinema_in_a_Global_Context.html?id=5T-DBAAAQBAJ">But these rules are vague</a>, and censorship of Iranian films is inconsistent, often based on the tastes of individual officials. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, the art cinema of filmmakers like the late <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jul/04/abbas-kiarostami-palme-dor-winning-iranian-film-maker-dies">Abbas Kiarostami</a>, <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/jafar-panahis-remarkable-taxi">Jafar Panahi</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1715454/">Mohsen Amiryoussefi</a> has received worldwide acclaim. Since the mid 2000s, Iranian films have won awards at prestigious festivals such as Cannes, Venice and San Sebastian.</p>
<p>The extraordinary overseas success of Iranian films has further complicated the censorship picture. It was the Iranian government, for instance, that approved the script of “The Salesman,” and determined that the film would be the country’s official entry in the Best Foreign Language Film category. </p>
<p>Perhaps authorities give films like “The Salesman” a pass because their depiction of Iran’s social realities is subtle, not strident. Literal-minded officials are often unable to find obvious examples of blasphemy or criticism of the political regime. </p>
<h2>Gentle – but forceful – criticism</h2>
<p>In “The Salesman,” for instance, a couple, Ranaa and Emad, are performers who are rehearsing for a production of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman.” </p>
<p>Their own home, however, is collapsing, the result of faulty construction. They’re forced to rent an apartment, which, they soon discover, had previously been occupied by a prostitute. Her clients continue to show up, creating a whole host of new problems for Ranaa and Emad. </p>
<p>In its elliptical treatment of Iran’s civil society as a “crumbling building” – and its depiction of the conflicting social and religious roles Iranian women must grapple with – the film subtly manages to be critical of modern life in Iran. In “The Salesman,” Islam is not the problem; rather, the film insists that repressive institutions – cultural, economic or religious – are what narrow the possibilities for humane communication and equality. These, Farhadi seems to argue, are the true dangers to any society. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_hHUkvNG7iU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The trailer for ‘The Salesman.’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Meanwhile, female filmmakers like <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2004/apr/03/features.weekend">Samira Makhmalbaf</a> – joined by other female actors, writers and directors – bring a muted feminism to an industry that exists at the sufferance of a patriarchal government. </p>
<p>What scholar Hamid Naficy <a href="http://publicculture.dukejournals.org/content/3/2/29.short">calls</a> a “cinema of the averted gaze” has emerged. Both male and female filmmakers obliquely confront the terms of female subservience – as well as the hidden sources of female cultural power – in a patriarchal society.</p>
<h2>Defying the censors</h2>
<p>Even though the criticism of the theocracy is often so gentle that it’s hardly noticeable, that hasn’t stopped the government from banning some Iranian films for domestic audiences. “Circle” (2000) was banned for its depiction of runaway girls, a social problem that’s at least partially the result of religious laws. Official regulators of culture in Iran have long seen themselves as fighting modernity and globalism, which they stereotypically connect with a hostile, decadent West – just the kind of xenophobia that, unfortunately, Trump’s blanket indictment of Islam echoes.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, Iran’s leaders haven’t been able to fully halt the forces of globalism they despise, and art films have been able to examine the ways in which international capital and conflict impact Iranian lives. “Surviving Paradise” (2001), the story of two young Iranian refugees lost in the streets of Los Angeles, was the first English-language Iranian-American film to be distributed in America. Several festivals of Iranian cinema also continue to take place each year around the world, part of a pattern of cultural exchange that predates the 1979 revolution. </p>
<p>Iranian cinema has also undercut the monolithic narrative that the theocratic state seeks to communicate.</p>
<p>For example, an Iranian war film like “Duel” (2004) doesn’t simply broadcast patriotic messages. Instead, it makes a powerful statement about the trauma of the Iran-Iraq War, using the memory of the conflict as a lens through which to understand modern Iran. Marjane Satrapi’s animated film of her own graphic novel “Persepolis” (2007) is perhaps the most outspoken and direct cinematic revision of the government’s version of the 1979 Revolution. (This film, however, was made in France.) </p>
<h2>Looking ahead to the Oscars</h2>
<p>Farhadi’s personal boycott is significant because it shows that rash and punitive U.S. immigration policies can be counterproductive, limiting some of the most liberal and cosmopolitan voices in the Muslim world. </p>
<p>Farhadi previously won an Academy Award for directing “A Separation” (2011), a film about a marriage that dissolves over the question of whether or not to leave Iran. Credited as the writer, producer and director of “The Salesman,” <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Iranian_Cinema_in_a_Global_Context.html?id=5T-DBAAAQBAJ">he is widely regarded</a> as a luminary of world cinema, and has joined a handful of living directors – Martin Scorsese, Pedro Almodovar, Wong-kar Wai and Alfonso Cuaron – as auteurs who are making lasting contributions to the art. </p>
<p>If the contentious statements from the podiums of the <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/awards/meryl-streep-takes-donald-trump-golden-globes-n704571">Golden Globes</a>, <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/sag-awards-stars-slam-trump-immigration-ban-speeches-article-1.2959112">Screen Actors Guild Awards</a> and the <a href="http://deadline.com/2017/02/donald-trump-travel-ban-dga-immigration-la-la-land-1201902761/">Director’s Guild Awards</a> are any indication, the Oscars will culminate a unique post-election season of cultural politics – and a rejection of the cultural assumptions inherent in Trump’s brand of politics. Farhadi referred to the Oscars as “this great cultural event.” But with Farhadi absent and his film present, he will be able to contribute to the political undertones of this year’s Oscars in a way that American movie stars ascending the stage can’t. </p>
<p>In his statement, Farhadi also wrote that “Hard-liners, despite their nationalities, political arguments and wars, regard and understand the world in very much the same way…via an ‘us and them’ mentality.” In this sense, he seems to be equating the Trump administration with Iran’s ruling regime.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.avclub.com/article/oscar-nominated-director-asghar-farhadi-barred-att-249281">Some have urged</a> the Oscar organizers to use Skype to at least allow Farhadi to be present visually, if not politically. In either case, if “The Salesman” ends up winning the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, it could be seen as yet another repudiation of Trump’s xenophobic, “us versus them” platform. </p>
<p>After all, as Farhadi subtly points out, his executive order is comparable to the very Iranian extremism his policies claim to contain.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72263/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kevin Hagopian does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Their critiques may be more gentle, their attacks more circumspect – but they are resonant nonetheless. And when filmmakers like Farhadi confront Trump, they’re on familiar turf: They’ve seen his type back home.Kevin Hagopian, Senior Lecturer of Media Studies, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/733632017-02-22T19:19:32Z2017-02-22T19:19:32ZA critical guide to the Oscar Best Pic contenders – and why Moonlight should win<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157791/original/image-20170222-31161-1o3xzj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight: one of the most beautiful films in recent years.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">A24, Plan B Entertainment/idmb</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There are great American films made every year, but most of them aren’t nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, an accolade that really only suggests the film will probably be watchable and well made.</p>
<p>This year, however, the field contains one extraordinary film and five very good ones – even if <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3510304/">Free In Deed</a>, the best American film from last year, didn’t receive any nominations. Several other of the year’s best films – I’m thinking of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3716530/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Elle</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3553976/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Captain Fantastic</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3954660/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Suntan</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3082854/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">The Commune</a> – are underepresented, or not represented at all in the larger ceremony.</p>
<h2>The standouts</h2>
<p>Two strong genre films, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2582782/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Hell or High Water</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2543164/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Arrival</a>, are up for the main prize.</p>
<p>Hell or High Water, directed by David Mackenzie, is a conventional cops and robbers tale set in a broken Texas scarred with rusty machinery, fast loan billboards, and foreclosed houses and farms. The narrative follows a pair of brothers, nicely played by Chris Pine and Ben Foster, as they rob a series of branches of the same bank in order to pay off their deceased mother’s debt. Meanwhile, hard-boiled Texas Ranger Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges) along with his Indian sidekick Alberto Parker (Gil Birmingham) hunt them throughout the state.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157797/original/image-20170222-20315-ta7n33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157797/original/image-20170222-20315-ta7n33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157797/original/image-20170222-20315-ta7n33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157797/original/image-20170222-20315-ta7n33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157797/original/image-20170222-20315-ta7n33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157797/original/image-20170222-20315-ta7n33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157797/original/image-20170222-20315-ta7n33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157797/original/image-20170222-20315-ta7n33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ben Foster and Chris Pine in Hell or High Water, which ticks all the boxes for a modern western.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Film 44, OddLot Entertainment, Sidney Kimmel Entertainment/idmb</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Bridges, who perfected this kind of role in films like <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082220/?ref_=nv_sr_4">Cutter’s Way</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090568/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">8 Million Ways to Die</a> seems to be straining a little hard here, and his performance is unconvincing. Nonetheless, Hell or High Water effectively ticks all the boxes for a modern western. It’s replete with guns, prostitutes, gambling, boozing, lots of sweat and dirt; Pine is a down on his luck robber with a heart of gold; his brother is a wildman hothead; there’s a final bloody shootout and so on. The highlight is the excellent score, co-written by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.</p>
<p>Intelligent science-fiction alien film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2543164/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Arrival</a>, directed by Denis Villeneuve, is quite a surprise. At first it seems odd that it has been nominated for Best Picture – the opening 20 minutes or so recall disaster films like <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120647/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Deep Impact</a>. A series of alien ships arrive around the world, and a team of experts – linguistics professor Louise Banks (Amy Adams) and theoretical physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) – are assembled by the military to try to understand the aliens’ motives.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157799/original/image-20170222-20321-1e988e8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157799/original/image-20170222-20321-1e988e8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157799/original/image-20170222-20321-1e988e8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157799/original/image-20170222-20321-1e988e8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157799/original/image-20170222-20321-1e988e8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157799/original/image-20170222-20321-1e988e8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157799/original/image-20170222-20321-1e988e8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157799/original/image-20170222-20321-1e988e8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner in Arrival.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">21 Laps Entertainment/idmb</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As Arrival develops, its intellectually rich conceit comes to the fore. It is premised on the idea that the aliens speak a language that functions, unlike human language, synchronically (ie it develops without taking its history into account). Thus, if one learns this language, all of time will unfold before one like a map that can be altered at will. This is, of course, an impossible wager for a narrative – which, necessarily, unfolds in sequence – and, as such, the film inevitably fails to be entirely convincing. </p>
<p>The endearingly weird <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3783958/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">La La Land</a> is another strong genre film up for contention. However, whilst Hell or High Water and Arrival engage reverently with generic conventions, La La Land tends to tear them apart.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157800/original/image-20170222-20326-1f0mfog.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157800/original/image-20170222-20326-1f0mfog.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157800/original/image-20170222-20326-1f0mfog.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157800/original/image-20170222-20326-1f0mfog.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157800/original/image-20170222-20326-1f0mfog.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157800/original/image-20170222-20326-1f0mfog.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157800/original/image-20170222-20326-1f0mfog.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157800/original/image-20170222-20326-1f0mfog.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The opening scene of the endearingly weird La La Land.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Black Label Media, Gilbert Films, Impostor Pictures/idmb</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After an impressive opening number on the Los Angeles freeways that could be from the High School Musical series, the film becomes rather un-musical, with its genuinely strange photography – it is filled with shots from wide angle lenses that disrupt conventional photographic perspective by distorting straight lines – and its melancholy ending that makes it more akin to a <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168629/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Dancer in the Dark</a> than an <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048445/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2">Oklahoma!</a> The charisma of stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone anchors what might otherwise seem a superfluous exercise in cinematic style.</p>
<p>Other solid best picture nominations are Kenneth Lonergan’s <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4034228/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Manchester by the Sea</a>, a low-key, slow-burn drama punctuated by moments of hilarity, following grieving Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck) as he comes to terms with the increased responsibility of caring for his nephew after his brother’s death, and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2671706/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Fences</a>, a film about blackness in 1950s America, meticulously made by (and starring) Denzel Washington.</p>
<h2>Moonlight: my pick for Best Picture</h2>
<p>These five films are good, but <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4975722/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Moonlight</a> is extraordinary. It is one of the most beautiful films of recent years across every level, and is my pick for Best Pic.</p>
<p>The film, written and directed by Barry Jenkins, follows the life of Chiron as he tries to come to terms with his sexual identity while growing up in urban Miami. The pristine structure follows Chiron at three different periods in his life, from youth to adulthood, with each section brilliantly performed by three remarkable actors: Alex Hibbert, as a young pre-pubescent boy coming to terms with a sense of his difference; Ashton Sanders as an alienated teenager who has his first sexual experience; and Trevante Rhodes as a successful drug dealer who is finally able to find some peace. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157794/original/image-20170222-20326-1e08qur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157794/original/image-20170222-20326-1e08qur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157794/original/image-20170222-20326-1e08qur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157794/original/image-20170222-20326-1e08qur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157794/original/image-20170222-20326-1e08qur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157794/original/image-20170222-20326-1e08qur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157794/original/image-20170222-20326-1e08qur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157794/original/image-20170222-20326-1e08qur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Alex R. Hibbert and Jaden Piner in Moonlight.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">A24, Plan B Entertainment/idmb</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is peopled with exquisitely drawn and performed characters – drug dealer Juan (Mahershala Ali) and his girlfriend Teresa (Janelle Monae), who take in Chiron when his drug addict mother is unable to adequately care for him, his best (and only) friend Kevin (played by three actors), who appears in key moments across the three parts, and his mother Paula (Naomie Harris), who despite her faults, never becomes a simple target for the viewer to despise.</p>
<p>This is the most stylish film of the nominees, one of the most stylish I’ve seen. The cinematography by James Laxton combines virtuosic camerawork with stunning, painterly tableaux, fluctuating between the expressionistic and the naturalistic.</p>
<p>Nicolas Britell’s hypnotic score sustains the tension of narrative and image without appearing overbearing or shrill. Moonlight offers, in short, an entirely engrossing sensory experience.</p>
<p>Furthermore, it manages to navigate racial, sexual, and class identity without ever appearing self-righteous, which is rare indeed for Hollywood cinema.</p>
<h2>Disappointing…</h2>
<p>Less impressive in this year’s list are Mel Gibson’s <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2119532/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Hacksaw Ridge</a> and the feel-good but shallow <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4846340/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Hidden Figures</a>. </p>
<p>Mel Gibson is a good actor who has appeared in some great films, but, a little like Clint Eastwood, he is less impressive as a director. Hacksaw Ridge is a stock-standard war film – it seems almost quaint in this day and age – that is watchable enough, but not particularly memorable. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157804/original/image-20170222-20297-aqwuf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157804/original/image-20170222-20297-aqwuf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157804/original/image-20170222-20297-aqwuf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157804/original/image-20170222-20297-aqwuf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157804/original/image-20170222-20297-aqwuf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157804/original/image-20170222-20297-aqwuf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157804/original/image-20170222-20297-aqwuf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157804/original/image-20170222-20297-aqwuf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Andrew Garfield and Teresa Palmer in Hacksaw Ridge.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cross Creek Pictures/idmb</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Hidden Figures, about three black women’s impact on the NASA space project, seems almost kitschy in its apparently unconscious support of American imperialism (ie the space project). It is thus tense with the contradiction between supporting imperialism and condemning America’s history of slavery and abuse. The whole thing strikes one as rather mindlessly sentimental.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157795/original/image-20170222-20343-1w2o2p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157795/original/image-20170222-20343-1w2o2p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157795/original/image-20170222-20343-1w2o2p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157795/original/image-20170222-20343-1w2o2p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157795/original/image-20170222-20343-1w2o2p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157795/original/image-20170222-20343-1w2o2p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157795/original/image-20170222-20343-1w2o2p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157795/original/image-20170222-20343-1w2o2p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Octavia Spencer and Crystal Lee Brown in Hidden Figures.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Levantine Films, Chernin Entertainment, Fox 2000 Pictures</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many people similarly adored <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3741834/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Lion</a>, but I found it schmaltzy and ill-conceived. For a film that finished with a message about the virtues of international adoption, it approached the subject with little depth, nuance or complexity. Even though it is based on a true story, it also tries to send a political message that is, ultimately, reductive and fails to take into account the complex cross-cultural and economic dynamics of adoption in the context of global capitalism.</p>
<p>Still, six out of nine good films for Best Picture is rare for an Oscars. So let’s praise the Hollywood machine and hope next year’s fodder is as good.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73363/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ari Mattes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There are five very good films nominated for the Best Picture gong and one extraordinary one.Ari Mattes, Lecturer in Media Studies, University of Notre Dame AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/728202017-02-22T10:26:43Z2017-02-22T10:26:43ZLa La Land deserves its 14 Oscar nominations for asking us, quite simply, to feel<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157540/original/image-20170220-15931-1iocw0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dale Robinette / Lionsgate</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Having won <a href="http://time.com/4668315/la-la-land-bafta-manchester-by-the-sea/">five BAFTAs</a>, including coveted awards for Best Film, Best Director (Damien Chazelle) and Best Actress (Emma Stone), <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/la-la-land-34786">La La Land</a> is likely to win more statuettes at the Oscars – it has a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38729938">record-equalling</a> 14 nominations. Both lauded as the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/23/movies/la-la-land-makes-musicals-matter-again.html">musical’s saviour</a> and <a href="http://observer.com/2016/12/good-intentioned-but-overrated-la-la-land-reeks-of-mothballs/">lambasted</a> as “overpraised, overrated and disappointingly mediocre”, La La Land has divided critics. </p>
<p>And as the film racks up award nominations, the scale of the backlash grows, with Richard Brody calling it “<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/the-empty-exertions-of-la-la-land">over-rehearsed</a>” and Will Brooker accusing it of <a href="https://theconversation.com/mediocre-musical-la-la-land-deserves-to-win-at-the-oscars-its-a-story-for-our-uninspiring-age-71894">Trump-esque fakery</a>.</p>
<p>Film academic José Arroyo <a href="https://notesonfilm1.com/2017/01/26/la-la-land-damien-chazelle-usa-2016/">proposes</a> that La La Land is suffering the same fate as older musicals once derided as “fluff”. This particular “fluff” consists of an everyday narrative about a temporary coupling between Mia (Stone) and Seb (Ryan Gosling). The film remains resolutely focused on the personal, with close-ups of the leads among the masses always honing in on that “someone in the crowd”. And with Ryan Gosling’s character crooning about the stars shining “just for me” from a heaving metropolis, the film’s sentimentality might well be mistaken for “fluffiness”. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cZAw8qxn0ZE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>But the personal is always political. Take, for instance, the protagonists’ nostalgia for jazz and Hollywood. Mia points to classic film locations on the Warner Brothers set; Seb talks at Mia about his jazz heroes. The characters may be stuck in the past, but their personal predispositions for nostalgia remain relevant to the present, as their reflections make visible the racism and misogyny that historically impacted the people whose stories they appropriate. </p>
<p>The film situates its two white leads in a crowd of silent, unnamed black characters in a jazz club, and features Seb commandeering black history and culture. Additionally, Mia, who uses her aunt’s story to win a part, relies on an invisible woman’s labour to succeed while also working invisibly as a playwright and stage actress herself. </p>
<p>The characters’ personal infatuations do not so much suggest there was a more perfectly imagined past as reveal a world that has failed to make progress. As Pam Cook <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Screening_the_Past.html?id=gDj2B2PcKRgC&redir_esc=y">argues</a>, nostalgia does not necessarily “stand in the way of historical analysis”. Inadvertently, La La Land’s nostalgia, coupled with its problematic representations of women and people of colour, asks us to reevaluate not only the past, but also how far we think we have come in the present. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157543/original/image-20170220-15908-f5opid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157543/original/image-20170220-15908-f5opid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157543/original/image-20170220-15908-f5opid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157543/original/image-20170220-15908-f5opid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157543/original/image-20170220-15908-f5opid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157543/original/image-20170220-15908-f5opid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157543/original/image-20170220-15908-f5opid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Director Damien Chazelle with Ryan Gosling.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dale Robinette / Lionsgate</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A history lesson</h2>
<p>The film also creates an easy tension between the past and present through it’s structure. Whereas most musicals end either happily, as in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045152/">Singin’ in the Rain</a>, or with tragedy, as in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0203009/">Moulin Rouge!</a>, La La Land defies resolution. It is predicated on loops and refrains: Mia and Seb look back to the past; film history is recycled in visual and aural motifs; Seb replays the opening bars of a record; Mia rehearses (unseen) her show; musical refrains such as City of Stars return; the seasons progress not just winter through fall, but back to winter. Consequently, neither the characters, nor the audiences, can fully escape into musical genre fantasy.</p>
<p>As the narrative plays out, we might read it as metaphor for a broader historical trajectory that is neither straightforward nor linear. Instead, it is cyclical, and like Seb returning to his old job only to be re-fired for still not sticking to the set list, bound to repeat mistakes despite knowing the past. </p>
<p>Historians now repeat cautionary narratives about fascism and authoritarianism in a manner akin to Mia and Seb’s <a href="https://vimeo.com/200550228">reiteration of the histories of film</a> and jazz through nostalgia. But such knowledge is not enough to guarantee change. As Mia suggests, we might “trace it all back to then” but then “do it again” regardless of the consequences. </p>
<p>As such, La La Land actually represents a dystopian world similar to our own, in which being historically aware does not necessarily safeguard us from an uncertain future. And throughout the film, the use of repetition, and the frustrating ending, make viewers acutely aware of this lack of foresight.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157546/original/image-20170220-15931-u6pci4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157546/original/image-20170220-15931-u6pci4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157546/original/image-20170220-15931-u6pci4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157546/original/image-20170220-15931-u6pci4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157546/original/image-20170220-15931-u6pci4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157546/original/image-20170220-15931-u6pci4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157546/original/image-20170220-15931-u6pci4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Championing music and cinema, the personal, and the significance of emotion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dale Robinette / Lionsgate</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet, for all the film’s doubling back, La La Land does offer hope. It suggests that music, film, and the “poets, and painters, and plays” enable us to transcend the material world. And the film’s sentimentality demands that viewers engage emotionally with the narrative.</p>
<p>As critic David Toussaint <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-toussaint/let-the-la-la-land-backla_b_13866332.html">writes</a>, “it’s not a feel-good movie; it’s a feel-it movie”. Even its focus on memory and nostalgia can be read as what film academic Michael D Dwyer <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/back-to-the-fifties-9780199356836?cc=gb&lang=en&">describes</a> as “pop nostalgia” that helps “structure the way that we collectively ‘feel’ the past”.</p>
<p>At a time when arts funding is threatened, when libraries face closure and when celebrity trumps more “meaningful” artistry, La La Land resists indifference and celebrates the enduring power of creativity to colour our lives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72820/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Harrison does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Another article about the politics of La La Land? This time it’s personal.Rebecca Harrison, Lecturer in Film and Television, University of GlasgowLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/731912017-02-21T19:13:50Z2017-02-21T19:13:50ZHow predictable are the Oscars? More than you might think<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157638/original/image-20170221-18646-1b5wvaw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">If the bookies are right - and they usually are - La La Land and Emma Stone will be dancing home from the Oscars. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Summit Entertainment</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This week, most of the major figures in film-making will gather in Hollywood for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/89th_Academy_Awards">89th annual Oscars ceremony</a>. You can bank on seeing a few <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/inside-the-fight-against-sexism-on-the-oscars-red-carpet-de6513a572d0#.33brbyxt4">painfully inane red carpet interviews</a>, several <a href="http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a33286/oscars-2015-thank-yous/">fawning acceptance speeches</a> and some <a href="http://www.indiewire.com/2015/02/5-terrible-oscar-hosts-and-their-worst-jokes-64847/">jokes that fall flat</a>. In all likelihood, there will be one more certainty on the night – an award or two the logic of which <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/what-to-watch/oscars-biggest-shocks-snubs-controversy/">will be questioned for years to come</a>.</p>
<p>It’s now over a decade since race-relations melodrama <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0375679/">Crash</a> pipped <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388795/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Brokeback Mountain</a> to the 2006 Best Picture award and it still leads most lists as <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/130381/crash-truly-worst-best-picture">one of history’s least explicable choices</a>. But despite the occasional curve ball, the Oscars are actually remarkably predictable - if you look in the right place for information. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157641/original/image-20170221-18627-1bbuf3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157641/original/image-20170221-18627-1bbuf3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157641/original/image-20170221-18627-1bbuf3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157641/original/image-20170221-18627-1bbuf3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157641/original/image-20170221-18627-1bbuf3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157641/original/image-20170221-18627-1bbuf3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157641/original/image-20170221-18627-1bbuf3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157641/original/image-20170221-18627-1bbuf3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Brokeback Mountain’s loss to Crash in 2006 was considered a major upset.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Focus Features</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>You’re just so predictable</h2>
<p>If you want to know who’s going to win the awards, your best bet is the bookmakers - especially if you leave it late enough. By the time the ceremony rolls around (<a href="https://onlyoscar.wordpress.com/the-road-to-2016-awards-season-calendar/">after the Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Screen Actors Guild Awards</a> have been and gone) the betting agencies generally have a great handle on who the Academy will recognise.</p>
<p>For example, since 2004, the bookmakers’ favourite has won Best Actor every year apart from one (in 2009, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-oscars-penn-idUSTRE51M1P920090223">Sean Penn was narrow second favourite but won for Milk</a>.) Over the same period, only two Best Actress favourites have missed out on the Oscar, and both of those winners were second favourites. </p>
<p>In fact, across the six main categories - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress – you have to go back a <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-oscars-swinton-idUSN2464274720080225">full nine years to find the last time an award was not won by the favourite or second favourite</a>.</p>
<p>Much of the perception that the Academy makes unpredictable decisions is simply people forgetting what popular opinion was at the time. Looking back at the legendary “upset” win of Crash in 2006, it was <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4769588.stm">actually still second favourite</a>. It also had a lot of momentum in the public’s eyes, with its odds shifting from a huge A$9 to just A$2.50 in the days before the ceremony. </p>
<p>You can see this effect in the chart below. The data were collected from a variety of sources as close to the awards ceremony as possible for each year. Across the six major categories since 2004, over 82% of the awards have gone to the bookmakers’ favourite. When there’s a red hot (A$1.20 or below) favourite, the awards have been even more predictable. In the last 13 years, no such heavily-favoured nominee has ever failed to take home the award in one of these categories.</p>
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<p>This is a remarkable run of predictability. By comparison, looking at Australia’s major sporting leagues, even contests with A$1.20 or below favourites are much more uncertain. Over the past four years, around 11% of heavily-favoured AFL games have ended in upsets. In the NRL, the rate is even higher at almost 28%. In this context, the Oscars seem to be a relative “sure thing”.</p>
<p>The Oscars are chosen by more than 6,000 voting members of the 17 branches of the <a href="http://www.oscars.org/oscars/voting">Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences</a>. Why are they so predictable? Bookmakers derive their odds from public opinion - where people are putting their money. Perhaps the Oscars are so certain because <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/sag-nominations-predict-oscar-nods-article-1.2458638">previous awards tip off the public</a>, or maybe people are good at sensing broader public opinion. Perhaps also, there’s a good old-fashioned <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/oscar-voters-brutally-honest-ballot-422546">Oscar voter leaking their ballot</a> to influence the odds.</p>
<p>You can figure out approximately how likely the bookmakers are rating a nominee to win by doing the following calculation: A$1/odds x 100%. For example, with odds of A$2.50, 2006 Best Picture Crash was thought to have about a 40% chance of success.</p>
<p>Over the period of this dataset the biggest upset was Tilda Swinton’s Best Supporting Actress win for 2008’s <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0465538/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Michael Clayton</a>. The bookmakers thought she had a below 10% chance of winning (with odds set at A$11). </p>
<h2>Why everyone else gets it wrong</h2>
<p>What’s even more remarkable about the predictability of the Oscars is the number of people who overthink things and get it wrong.</p>
<p>Last year, Nate Silver’s data science site, FiveThirtyEight collated <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/oscars-predictions-2016/">nine different mathematical models</a> which crunched available data to produce predictions of the Oscar winners. </p>
<p>Some of these models were by amateur data scientists (albeit <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-much-do-we-need-to-know-to-predict-the-oscars/">amateurs with PhDs</a> or <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/can-the-internet-predict-the-oscars/">with Harvard degrees</a>) and others by professionals, including teams at Ernst and Young, at predictive analytics operation Solution by Simulation, and at FiveThirtyEight itself. </p>
<p>Each model used different datasets – some from Twitter mentions, others from box office performance and others from themes of historical winners or recent film reviews.</p>
<p>So how did these mathematical models do…? Well, overall, their performance could only be described as miserable. Of 48 predictions made across the main six categories <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/fivethirtyeight-watches-the-oscars/">only 50% of these were correct</a>. Some of them even missed absolute certainties such as <a href="http://observer.com/2016/02/11-hilarious-memes-of-leonardo-dicaprio-struggling-to-win-an-oscar/">Leonardo DiCaprio</a> (A$1.01 or 99% to win) and <a href="http://oscar.go.com/news/winners/brie-larson-is-2016-oscar-winner-for-best-actress">Brie Larson</a> (A$1.04 or 96% to win).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157642/original/image-20170221-18627-1751d89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157642/original/image-20170221-18627-1751d89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157642/original/image-20170221-18627-1751d89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157642/original/image-20170221-18627-1751d89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157642/original/image-20170221-18627-1751d89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157642/original/image-20170221-18627-1751d89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157642/original/image-20170221-18627-1751d89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157642/original/image-20170221-18627-1751d89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Viola Davis, a good bet for Best Supporting Actress in Fences.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paramount Pictures</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Why did these models perform so poorly? You’ve probably heard the term <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_data">“big data”</a> and the idea that <a href="https://www.naij.com/1076973-trump-clinton-how-big-data-scientists-helped-trump-win-election.html">large datasets can be searched for patterns that allow us to predict the future</a>. While nobody can ever quite define what “big” means, in this context, the Oscar datasets are certainly not “big”. </p>
<p>One datapoint per category per year for less than a century is not much to overcome any other randomness or unpredictability in the system. For example, there are often short-term trends in the tastes of Oscar voters.</p>
<p>In the <a href="http://www.filmsite.org/oscars60.html">1960s, four musicals won Best Picture</a>. The <a href="http://www.filmsite.org/oscars80.html">1980s seemed to favour films dealing with colonialism and its aftermath</a>. Around the turn of the millennium, the Academy lauded safe, uncontroversial box office hits. From the point of calibrating a mathematical model, though, by the time a popular trend has influenced the model, tastes have likely already moved on.</p>
<h2>Spoiler alert</h2>
<p>This year in the main six categories, there are <a href="http://www.oddschecker.com.au/awards/oscars">five short-priced (A$1.20 or below) favourites</a>. As I’ve shown above, it’s well over a decade since any such favourites left empty-handed. </p>
<p>If history repeats itself, it seems safe to assume that the cast and crew of <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2017/01/24/oscar-nominations-2017-live-full-list/">La La Land</a> might just skip, twirl and dance away from Hollywood Boulevard with a little bit more gold for their mantelpieces. The film itself, plus actress Emma Stone, and director Damien Chazelle are all heavily-tipped for success. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157644/original/image-20170221-18646-1yvi5cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157644/original/image-20170221-18646-1yvi5cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157644/original/image-20170221-18646-1yvi5cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157644/original/image-20170221-18646-1yvi5cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157644/original/image-20170221-18646-1yvi5cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157644/original/image-20170221-18646-1yvi5cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157644/original/image-20170221-18646-1yvi5cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157644/original/image-20170221-18646-1yvi5cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Mahershala Ali, nominated for Best Supporting Actor in Moonlight.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">A24</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Similarly, Mahershala Ali for Supporting Actor in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4975722/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Moonlight</a>, and Viola Davis for Supporting Actress in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2671706/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Fences</a> look to have every reason to feel confident. According to the bookmakers, only this year’s Best Actor race should be difficult to predict. Casey Affleck’s performance in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4034228/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Manchester by the Sea</a> is favoured at A$1.57, barely ahead of Denzel Washington at A$2.10.</p>
<p>Do remember, however, that odds can change leading right up to the night. A week before the 2006 ceremony, the longstanding confidence around Brokeback Mountain started to crumble and it drifted from a near-certain A$1.10 to a more doubtful A$1.50. With hindsight, the creeping doubts about its success proved correct.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73191/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Woodcock does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If you want to know who’s going to win the Oscars, your best bet is the bookmakers.Stephen Woodcock, Senior Lecturer in Mathematics, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/733092017-02-21T07:50:58Z2017-02-21T07:50:58ZHow can we get to the bottom of Hollywood’s diversity problem?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157530/original/image-20170220-15917-1w1p300.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hidden Figures // Twentieth Century Fox</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The struggles of black individuals in the United States have all shared the “attempt to be understood as full complicated human beings”, says Jelani Cobb, professor of African-American Studies in Ava DuVernay’s excellent Oscar nominated documentary, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5895028/">The 13th</a>.</p>
<p>There is nowhere that this is more apparent than in one of America’s greatest institutions, the cinema. The lack of diversity within the industry has dominated the conversation the past few years. It has even tarnished its glittering annual event, the Oscars, with <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/oscarssowhite?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Ehashtag">#OscarsSoWhite</a> going viral last year after there were no actors of colour nominated in the four acting categories for the second year in a row. </p>
<p>Diversity has become almost a buzzword for Hollywood’s indifference to difference, and meanwhile articles continue to be published decrying the industry, and their awards, for their uniformity. As David Cox wrote on <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/feb/25/oscarssowhite-right-and-wrong-academy-awards-audience">the Guardian film blog</a> in 2016: “The Oscars may not be anti-black, but they are hideously white.”</p>
<p>The 89th Academy Awards, taking place on February 26, by no means illustrate a colossal change in the industry, but there is more recognition bestowed on films starring, directed and about black individuals. Of the five nominees for <a href="http://oscar.go.com/nominees/documentary-feature">best documentary</a>, three are directed by African Americans, while a fourth is by a Haitian filmmaker. In the <a href="http://oscar.go.com/nominees/actor-in-a-leading-role">acting categories</a>, Denzel Washington (Fences), Ruth Negga (Loving), Mahershala Ali (Moonlight), Viola Davis (Fences), Naomi Harris (Moonlight) and Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures) are all nominated, in addition to British-Indian Dev Patel (Lion).</p>
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<h2>Pick of the bunch</h2>
<p>These examples can be used to argue that the Oscars are <a href="http://deadline.com/2017/01/not-so-white-oscar-nominations-end-diversity-drought-black-honorees-1201892888/">embracing diversity</a>. But of course, this may all just <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/02/year-diversity-oscars-score-170214093115396.html">display an aberration</a> – one year where the stars aligned and variety befell the ceremony. Both arguments have been made, but what is often lost in the debates is the simple fact that diversity is not solely an awards issue. It is an industry-wide problem. </p>
<p>The films that are awarded by the academy are chosen as the best of that particular year, but with less choice overlooked films can easily be dismissed as not up to the standards of the award votes instead of ignored due to their focus on non-white subjects. Take DuVernay’s Selma. Each year, the Hollywood Reporter <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/brutally-honest-oscar-ballot-2015-773902">publishes</a> anonymous academy members discussing their votes. In 2015, a female academy member commented of Selma’s two paltry nominations (best picture and best original song): “But if the movie isn’t that good, am I supposed to vote for it just because it has black people in it?” </p>
<p>Selma was just one example of a film about the black experience in America, but being directed, produced and starring black individuals, it became a lightening rod for debates about diversity. A positively reviewed film about Martin Luther King’s fight for voting rights in Selma, Alabama, the film was included in many critics’ end of year <a href="http://www.metacritic.com/feature/film-critic-top-10-lists-best-movies-of-2014">top ten lists</a>. Awards are always subjective, but when films with less diverse casts and significantly less positive reviews receive more nominations (such as The Theory of Everything), it becomes more difficult to separate voting from politics.</p>
<p>And herein lies the central issue for the academy. While they are able to pick through countless films by white male filmmakers about white male individuals, there are generally only a handful of quality films produced each year with diverse casts and filmmakers. Snubs can be more easily accepted when there is a plethora of films to choose from, but when there are only one or two, all the hopes for a diverse industry get unfairly pinned on to one film (as happened with Selma). </p>
<h2>Lives deserve to be told</h2>
<p>When Viola Davis <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W2pBSjgsXE">accepted her supporting actress award</a> at the BAFTAs in London recently, she mentioned her father, who died of cancer in a McDonalds, asking if his life mattered. She went on to say that playwright August Wilson (<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/nov/22/fences-review-denzel-washington-viola-davis-august-wilson">Fences</a> is an adaptation of his play) illustrated that “our lives matter as African Americans” and the stories of African Americans “deserve to be told”, echoing Cobb’s comment in The 13th.</p>
<p>The desire to be understood and represented as “full complicated human beings” is shared by women, LGBT individuals, Asian, African, and Hispanic individuals – anyone who doesn’t not fall into the category of the white straight male. Stories have of course been told about these groups, but their real entrance into the mainstream is further hampered by the film industry’s themes, narratives and characters. Too often, Hollywood produces films that rely on stereotypes, such as the prevalence of black characters as servants, slaves, drug addicts, musicians, athletes or criminals.</p>
<p>This year’s nominations may represent a changing tide. Stories in 2017 include that of the African American female scientists who worked at NASA during the space race (<a href="https://theconversation.com/hidden-figures-takes-us-back-to-a-time-when-computers-were-people-women-and-black-72303">Hidden Figures</a>) and a tale of black masculinity that focuses on sexuality and emotion more than societal pressures and systematic racism (<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4975722/">Moonlight</a>). </p>
<p>Institutional racism should certainly never be ignored, but defining the experience of an individual by only their race is to misrepresent the complexity of their lives. The white male dominance of Hollywood is so difficult to overcome because it has long been presented as a universal experience by Hollywood. The black experience, to take one example, is not universal, nor should it be presented as such. Only films that expose the socio-historical context of a variety of individuals’ lives and focus on their complexities without resorting to the stereotypes that have persisted in the cinema since its earliest days will truly promote the diversity of human life. </p>
<p>Until La La Land can star two actors of colour, or two women, as its leads, incorporating their particular life experience into the traditional “boy meets girl” romantic narrative, Hollywood will continue to struggle with diversity and the academy will be limited by their award options.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73309/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julie Lobalzo Wright does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Until La La Land can star two actors of colour or two women in the leading roles, Hollywood will have a diversity problem.Julie Lobalzo Wright, Teaching Fellow in Film Studies, University of WarwickLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/716612017-01-26T13:11:03Z2017-01-26T13:11:03ZHacksaw Ridge promised to champion pacifism – but the film is sadly just jingoistic<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153928/original/image-20170123-8057-a6p7qw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lionsgate</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="http://thebulletin.org/timeline">The Doomsday Clock</a> offers a countdown to possible global catastrophe and currently reads three minutes to midnight, equal to the threat level seen at the height of the Cold War. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/15/china-warns-trump-that-taiwan-policy-is-non-negotiable">Tensions are high</a> in the South China sea and North Korea is <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-11813699">developing nuclear weapons</a>. Relations with Russia are fraught and the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria drag on and on. With Donald Trump’s finger now on the nuclear trigger the risk of further, possibly apocalyptic war, has risen even higher. In spite of this existential threat, pacifism is a dirty word in the wider political culture. So surely what we need right now is some intelligent articulation of genuine anti-war points of view?</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154204/original/image-20170125-23872-1di5pag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154204/original/image-20170125-23872-1di5pag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154204/original/image-20170125-23872-1di5pag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=741&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154204/original/image-20170125-23872-1di5pag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=741&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154204/original/image-20170125-23872-1di5pag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=741&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154204/original/image-20170125-23872-1di5pag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=931&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154204/original/image-20170125-23872-1di5pag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=931&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154204/original/image-20170125-23872-1di5pag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=931&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The real Desmond Doss, 1945.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From Jean Renoir’s 1937 pacifist classic, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028950/">Le Grande Illusion</a>, to Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 antinuclear satire, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057012/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Dr Strangelove</a>, past filmmakers have successfully taken this on, but contemporary film culture has little to offer. Enter <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2119532/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Hacksaw Ridge</a>, Mel Gibson’s latest film, which tells the story of Desmond Doss, a religious pacifist who became a US Army medic during World War II. </p>
<p>Although Doss volunteered for the army, he refused to carry a rifle or take life yet still managed to earn a Congressional Medal of Honour for single-handedly rescuing 75 comrades during fierce fighting on the Japanese island of Okinawa. <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01AU7F4SA/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1">Doss’s story</a> is replete with dramatic progressive potential.</p>
<h2>Hacksaw Ridge</h2>
<p>But Gibson’s film fails to deliver. Although its first act is focused on Doss’s early life, we learn next to nothing about the tenets of Seventh Day Adventism, the religious faith that informed his worldview. His refusal of violence is depicted as personal rather than principled, a response to specific life events rather than religious reflection and conviction. As such, his position seems to emanate from within rather than belonging to a wider institutional, and potentially oppositional, framework of belief. Here the personal is definitely not the political.</p>
<p>The film also fails to show any convincing contradiction in the military context. The men in Doss’s platoon bully and beat him, and this behaviour is condoned by the army, but these scenes serve only as backdrop to Doss’s stoicism rather than any genuine attempt to show how his beliefs precipitate an institutional crisis. The central court martial scene – which had the potential to explore the ways in which Doss’s principled commitment to his beliefs demanded an uncomfortable and reluctant accommodation of his difference by the military – is pure Hollywood hokum and a lost opportunity.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154206/original/image-20170125-23878-1vlp6eu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154206/original/image-20170125-23878-1vlp6eu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154206/original/image-20170125-23878-1vlp6eu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154206/original/image-20170125-23878-1vlp6eu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154206/original/image-20170125-23878-1vlp6eu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154206/original/image-20170125-23878-1vlp6eu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154206/original/image-20170125-23878-1vlp6eu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">No guns.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lionsgate</span></span>
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<p>The film’s battle scenes follow the well-worn groove established by <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120815/">Saving Private Ryan</a> and others; viscera spill and spatter, legs are torn to tattered shreds, and men fall like pins in the face of Japanese machine-gunners. Here the horror of the battlefield is used to set in stark relief the stoicism, selflessness and courage of the American troops. </p>
<p>One would expect Doss’s role in the battle to create contradiction. But instead he becomes a facilitator, servicing the war machine and ensuring it prevails. The technically bravura filmmaking in these scenes has grievous injury, pain and death as a crucible in which the conservative values of family and faith (via Doss and his wife) and firepower (via the resolve of the wider group) are forged.</p>
<h2>Conscientious collaborator</h2>
<p>To maintain the position of a religious pacifist as enabler of military effectiveness the film does an appalling disservice to Doss’s memory. Doss rescued a number of wounded Japanese troops from the battlefield, dragging them to safety and lowering them down a ridge to be treated by US medics. This inconvenient fact is acknowledged but a casual aside implies that these prisoners were summarily executed, and the audience is solicited to consider this wholly justified. </p>
<p>This choice belies the one-sidedness of the film as a whole, which apes World War II propaganda in its depiction of the Japanese as faceless, insane and animal-like. Indeed, after a number of bloody setbacks, US forces prevail and the scenes of the Japanese being defeated play as revenge. It is hard to imagine anything further from Doss’s belief that violence must be resisted at all costs than these graphic scenes of payback.</p>
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<p>Doss’s refusal to bear arms is shown to be a personal choice that doesn’t threaten the wider system. He is a patriot aligned with US war aims who works tirelessly to ensure that the army prevail. And the army is shown to accept, and even defend difference, as long as that difference is thoroughly able to be assimilated. </p>
<p>As a result, the film subsumes a potentially radical anti-war voice within a film that is consonant with the wider racist, nostalgic, militaristic and patriarchal political culture emerging around the figure of Trump. Ultimately, Hacksaw Ridge contains the radical potential of Doss’s story, turning him from conscientious objector to conscientious collaborator, and in doing so reinforces a jingoistic political culture in a time of grave danger.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71661/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Guy Westwell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Oscar-nominated film is pure Hollywood hokum and a lost opportunity.Guy Westwell, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies, Queen Mary University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/718942017-01-25T12:53:29Z2017-01-25T12:53:29ZMediocre ‘musical’ La La Land deserves to win at the Oscars – it’s a story for our uninspiring age<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154197/original/image-20170125-23845-1bnj07p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lionsgate</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>La La Land deserves its <a href="http://www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/news/la-la-land-leads-oscar-nominations_42719.html">record-breaking</a> 14 Oscar nominations, I now realise. When I saw the movie, I wasn’t blown away. A pleasant entertainment, with a pretty central couple and some nice frocks. Two actors dancing like the celebrity winners of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/strictly-come-dancing-35274">Strictly Come Dancing</a> and singing like cruise-ship karaoke. You applaud their efforts and can, to an extent, understand the critical acclaim. We need pleasant distractions right now, in the face of Trump and Brexit. We need nostalgia. I didn’t think it deserved the five star reviews, but I appreciate that <a href="https://theconversation.com/welcome-back-to-la-la-land-musicals-nostalgia-and-escaping-reality-71368">people enjoy escapism</a>, especially in a time like this.</p>
<p>But I’ve changed my mind. La La Land deserves its nominations and more: it deserves to win Best Picture. Because it isn’t escapism, it’s a story for our age. Ryan Gosling, who pluckily spent three months learning piano to play the protagonist, is the perfect hero in a year when the new president of the United States can take over with no training. His reality-show-standard song and dance routines are perfectly suited to this new era, when a <a href="http://europe.newsweek.com/donald-trumps-business-failures-election-2016-486091?rm=eu">mediocre</a> businessman and second-rate television celebrity can become Commander-in-Chief. If Trump’s Education Secretary <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/betsy-devos-trump-education-pick-historic-historical-blames-staff/">can’t write grammatically</a> or <a href="http://www.vox.com/2017/1/17/14304692/devos-confirmation-hearing-education">answer questions on basic policy</a>, how can we criticise an actor for less-than-perfect performances? Our current culture doesn’t just excuse amateurs, it elevates them to the highest roles.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154199/original/image-20170125-23838-1fvjwft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154199/original/image-20170125-23838-1fvjwft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154199/original/image-20170125-23838-1fvjwft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154199/original/image-20170125-23838-1fvjwft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154199/original/image-20170125-23838-1fvjwft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154199/original/image-20170125-23838-1fvjwft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154199/original/image-20170125-23838-1fvjwft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Expert.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lionsgate</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I thought La La Land borrowed its best scenes from earlier, superior musicals; I may have been technically correct, but I was still wrong. When commercial cinema is saturated with reboots and sequels, La La Land’s <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2016/12/13/la_la_land_s_many_references_to_classic_movies_from_singin_in_the_rain_to.html">pastiche</a> of An American In Paris, Singin’ In The Rain and so many others counts as originality. At least it cast actors who are still alive, rather than constructing a CGI simulation of Fred Astaire. At least it patched its borrowed moments together into a kind of story, copying and pasting them onto its cute contemporary narrative rather than just offering a best-of clip show. That’s surely all we can wish for, in a week when President Trump’s inaugural address included an uncited <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2017/01/21/did-trump-quote-tom-hardys-batman-villain-inauguration-speech/">quotation from a Batman villain</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.mtv.com/news/2965622/la-la-lands-white-jazz-narrative/">Some have claimed</a> that La La Land appropriates the black art form of jazz, with Gosling in the white saviour role as its purist champion. But what could be more 2017 than a movie that celebrates <a href="https://theconversation.com/mansplaining-the-word-of-the-year-and-why-it-matters-37091">mansplaining</a> and whitewashing, that has Gosling talking loudly over older, African American musicians to impress his date, and then shows them nodding appreciatively, grateful for his support? La La Land’s approach to jazz is surely acceptable in a year when Melania Trump got away with delivering a speech <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-us-2016-36832095">seemingly plagiarised from Michelle Obama</a>. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, John Legend’s marginalised appearance as Gosling’s one black friend, who begs him to join a band then sells out the genre with his tacky commercialism, perfectly suits an Academy Awards list that congratulates itself on avoiding “<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/35349772/oscars-so-white-what-people-are-saying-about-diversity-in-hollywood">Oscars So White</a>” controversy, yet which nominates white men and women over people of colour in the Best Actor/Actress category by a <a href="http://oscar.go.com/nominees">ratio of 4:1</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154200/original/image-20170125-23845-1pbf8lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154200/original/image-20170125-23845-1pbf8lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154200/original/image-20170125-23845-1pbf8lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154200/original/image-20170125-23845-1pbf8lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154200/original/image-20170125-23845-1pbf8lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154200/original/image-20170125-23845-1pbf8lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154200/original/image-20170125-23845-1pbf8lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">John Legend and Ryan Gosling.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lionsgate</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>I had one remaining reservation about La La Land, when I heard it praised as a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/23/movies/la-la-land-makes-musicals-matter-again.html?_r=0">pioneering new musical</a>, poised to rejuvenate the genre. La La Land opens like a musical, sure, with a big opening number by the whole company – including minor roles for people of colour who disappear after this scene – and continues briefly in that vein, with old-fashioned movie montages and Emma Stone’s roommates dancing around the apartment like the girls in Sweet Charity and West Side Story. But after the next routine, What A Lovely Night, and the first date (City of Stars), the movie gives up on its genre and largely becomes an indie flick with occasional songs. </p>
<p>The opening mode, where characters sing as readily as speak and break unthinkingly into dance, is almost forgotten: compare the relatively realist middle section of La La Land with West Side Story, where the songs and choreography are regular punctuation, an alternative expressive language that the cast can’t resist slipping into when emotions run high. Most of La La Land’s spectacle is in the trailer, edited into enticing glimpses; in the movie itself, these fantasy moments are paced out, with long stretches between them.</p>
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<p>But on second thoughts, I’ve realised that a musical-that-isn’t-a-musical, hailed as the <a href="http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a51400/la-la-land-review/">best musical of the decade</a> in a decade with barely any musicals, is just what we need this year, in our post-truth era of alternative facts, where a president who lost the popular vote can <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/01/24/fact-check-inauguration-crowd-size/96984496/">boldly lie</a> about things we all saw with our own eyes. A flattering love letter to Hollywood, its film industry and its cinema history, rewarded by an academy whose job it is to celebrate Hollywood, its film industry and its cinema history; what could be more perfectly circular, more self-congratulatory and more suited to the time? </p>
<p>La La Land already plays like an awards show, before it’s won any Academy Awards – it’s a tribute reel, like one of those clever end-of-ceremony acts where Neil Patrick Harris does a song and dance and brings the house down. It’s a white male American dream, a story where the alternate version of what happened to the characters is just as persuasive and powerful, and a lot more glamorous, than what we just saw happening. It’s La La Land. </p>
<p>My mistake was in thinking that this was a made-up world. But we are living in La La Land. It deserves to win <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-37483869">bigly</a> at the Oscars: until we all wake up, this is the Best Picture we deserve.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71894/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Will Brooker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>No film could be more perfectly circular, more self-congratulatory and more suited to the time.Will Brooker, Professor of Film and Cultural Studies, Kingston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.